SAT upholds SEBI order against PACL Ltd

By: Aishwarya DhakareyAugust 19, 2015 4:06 pm

The Securities Appellate Tribunal on Wednesday upheld a August 22, 2014, order of the Securities and Exchange Board of India directing PACL Ltd, erstwhile Pearl Agrotech Corporation, and its promoters to refund over Rs 44,376 crore that it collected from 5.85 crore investors through collective investment schemes (CIS).

In 1997, the SEBI alleged that the company was running a CIS without any approval or permission. Subsequently, the case was registered against PACL, promoters and directors including Sukhdev Singh, Gurmeet Singh, Tarilochan Singh and Subrata Bhattacharya.

The SEBI found that the company was running a land purchase scheme where it was collecting money from investors to buy land. PACL moved the Rajasthan High Court, which in an order on November 28, 2003, held that the schemes were not CIS and quashed two letters SEBI sent in 1999. SEBI appealed to the Supreme Court against the order. The SC on February 26, 2013, set aside the high court order, paving the way for SEBI to further investigate the case, which resulted in the SEBI order in 2014.

PACL had told the SEBI that it got its revenue from the sale of land, flats, commercial space etc and had other business activities such as sale of farm produce. SEBI, however, established that until March 2012, the firm had received a total customer advance of Rs 44,736 crore under two land-linked plans and had also paid commissions of Rs 7,893 crore to its agents.

Around six crore investors are waiting for their hard-earned money back from Pacl India Ltd.

A case was filed by Sebi back in 1997 stating pacl was running Collective Investment Scheme without SEBI’s permission.

In 2003, Rajasthan High court rejected the orders of Sebi which was sent in 1999 stating that Pacl is not running Collective Investment Scheme.

In 2013 Supreme Court set aside the order of Rajasthan High Court and asked Sebi to start a fresh probe against Pacl. In August 2014, Sebi ordered Pacl to refund the promised customerstour the investors within 3 months.

Pacl approached SAT against Sebi. In August 2015, SAT has backed the order of Sebi and has asked pacl to refund the money within 3 months.

We have recently read some article stating that pacl should be allowed to continue its business operation for another 2 years as Pacl promises to earn huge profit and will be returning the promised returns to the investors.

Pacl has not paid many investors even after the policy was matured years back. Recently some people visited Pacl India Ltd (Ghatkopar) branch which is now shifted to Thane. some officials of Pacl informed the investors that Pacl have planned to approach Supreme court before September, 2015 stating that they cannot refund the investors within 3 months and should be allowed to continue its business operation for another 2 to 3 years. Even though SEBI and SAT has agreed that Pacl should refund the returns within 3 months which should be done before November 2015, the officials of pacl state that it can only start the refund procedure after receiving permission to continue its business operation from CBI and also after the bank accounts of Pacl is released. I also read that there would be another hearing in November 2015 to release the bank accounts of pacl.

I contacted CBI Delhi and was informed that the bank accounts of Pacl India Limited will be released only once the case is closed. I contacted SEBI and discussed the conversation I had with CBI Delhi. Sebi told me that they will wait for 3 months which would be after November 12 for any necessary action against Pacl India Limited. Sebi also told me to register a grievance against Pacl India Limited on SCORES(Sebi’s portal for customer complaints). It has not helped me to get the returns yet. Sebi also asked to me to send an email to sebi @sebi.gov.in which I did and still I didn’t get the returns. Infact I also registered a grievance on our Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office website and I have received an acknowledgement stating that the grievance was closed and the matter has been forwarded to CBI. This is extremely disappointing that I cannot even follow up on a matter with CBI with the grievance being closed by our PM Narendra Modi’s office.

Some people have already lost their lives due to the returns being delayed and I have also heard that some women in Kerala who were working as agents were sexually harassed and the agents of Pacl are being beaten up by the investors.

Today I again read that some congress leaders are trying to form another special committee, I hope this is not another sad excuse to delay the returns of the customer’s who have been waiting patiently for years to get their returns.

There was an hearing on November 05, 2015 and all were expecting that the bank accounts of Pacl India Limited would be released and that the customers would start receiving the refund, However the bank accounts were not released and now it all sounds like a lie from pacl India Limited.

On November 05, 2015 I was informed that all the pending petitions from the Rajasthan High court has been transferred to the Supreme court of India. Now we have heard that there is a hearing on November 18, 2015 in the Supreme court of India.

The regulators like Sebi, RBI and the government had failed to decide corrective measures for more tha. A decade. The finance minister Arun Jaitley is still not able to return the money collected by Pacl India Limited.

Arun Jaitley also had said that to retrieve the money from such company is a difficult task and could take years to return the money to the investors.

I have checked the Facebook page of Pacl India limited They have made it clear that pacl has enough money to return the investors within a week, but on the other hand pacl has been saying that sebi should register the schemes of pacl and also pacl needs 2 to 3 years to return the money. I think either Pacl India limited is lying to the investors or Sebi and the government is lying.

We request Pacl, Supreme court, High court, Sebi, Sat, CBI, ACB and all political parties in India to help expedite the refund procedure.

When SAT Remains SEBI’s order to Refund Money In Three Month’s To Investors And Penalized Company With 7269 Crore, But PACL Have No Plan Or Motive To Refund The Investors Money Because It Have No Sufficient Property/ Bank Balane Or Land That’s Why A Compny Used Law To Waste A Time And Directors Run Away From India With Fake Name & Fake Passport. And Investors Get “BABA JI KA THULLU”